Uncharted 3: Multiplayer beta receiving mixed responses

It was only yesterday that the much-anticipated Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta was launched, and fans of the series have already begun flooding the official Naughty Dog forums to express both praise and complaints. Although the Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta is full of bugs and glitches in the early stage, it’s actually the new features that are receiving the mixed responses.

Paul Curtin from moviestinger.com got to spend a little hands-on time with the multiplayer build during the E3 2011 event earlier this month, and has voiced similar concerns as to those that are being mentioned on the official forums. Gamers who loved the simple, yet perfected multiplayer side of the Uncharted 2 game appear to be up in arms about how complex the multiplayer side of Uncharted 3 has become.

Naughty Dog has decided to revamp almost everything in the Uncharted 3 multiplayer, which hasn’t gone down too well with some fans. The first noticeable change is the overall pacing, which according to Paul appears much slower than the Uncharted 2 game. Gamers tend to move slower and more sluggish in the Uncharted 3 game in order to emphasize the new sprint feature.

Players didn’t have the ability to sprint in the Uncharted 2 game, which enabled them to constantly run at a faster pace. Another change is that the maps are slightly larger than the previous title, which seems to create pauses in the non-stop action created in smaller maps. One of the biggest changes of the Uncharted 3 multiplayer however is the way that the weapons have been tweaked, and how players can pick weapons and modify them before they enter matches.

It is actually the addition of Power Plays and Kickbacks that seem to have upset Uncharted 2 fans the most. Kickbacks enable gamers to use a custom power-up once they reach a certain number of kills, similar to the killstreak system in the Call of Duty games. Meanwhile, the Power Play system goes into effect when a multiplayer match begins to get lopsided.

Teams that are losing by a considerable amount are given the opportunity to kill marked players on the opposite team for some additional points. They are also given the ability to see exactly where their enemies are. Another new feature introduced in the Uncharted 3 game is treasures, which randomly pop up after an enemy has been killed. These treasures can then be picked up by the player that made the kill.

Have you played the Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta yet? If so, what do you think of the new features?